Carrying element



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United States Patent CARRYING ELEMENT Roger Bajulaz, 13 Chemin PierreGrisse, Genthod, Geneva, Switzerland Filed May 25, 1964, Ser. No.369,991 Claims priority, application Switzerland, May 30, 1963,

1 Claim. (Cl. 198-156) The present invention has for its object acarrying element for a storage installation support in which a load istransferred from a first to a second support by the passage of thesesupports one through the other, characterized by the fact that thiselement comprises a bearing surface which seen from above shows partsoffset on either side of the longitudinal symmetry plane of thiscarrying element.

The accompanying drawing shows diagrammatically and by way of example afew possible embodiments of the carrying element.

FIG. 1 is a partial view from above of a support provided with carryingelements.

FIG. 2 is a partial view in side elevation of the support shown in FIG.1.

FIG. 3 is a detail on a larger scale showing carrying elements of FIGS.1 and 2.

FIG. 4 is a detail on a larger scale showing a first variant of thecarrying elements.

FIG. 5 is a detail on a larger scale showing a second variant of thecarrying elements.

FIG. 6 is a detail on a larger scale showing a third variant of thecarrying elements.

FIG. 7 shows partially a mechanical garage installation equipped withcarrying elements, according to the invention.

The carrying elements which are the object of the present invention areadapted to be employed in storage installations comprising supportsprovided with carrying elements in which loads are transferred from afirst support onto a second support by the passage of these supports onethrough the other. An installation of this type is for example thatdescribed in Patent No. 3,204,785 (application No. 146,872, filed onOctober 25, 1961).

In this type of installation specially envisaged for the parking ofmotor vehicles the production of these carrying elements presentsparticularly difficult problems. One must in particular produce carryingelements of sufficient resistance for a single element to be able tocarry a quarter of the weight of the heaviest vehicle taken intoaccount, to which are added the safety factors, but having neverthelessa small width so that the distance separating two adjacent carryingelements be small. This is particularly difficult to carry out for heavyloads, such as cars weighing up to about 4900 lbs. (2200 kg.). Moreover,it is necessary that the distance between the adjacent carrying elementsbe small so as to be able to carry loads resting on small surfaces whichis the case of the tires of motor vehicles.

Moreover an additional requirement appears when it is desired to carrycars on such supports. Indeed, it is necessary that in whatever way thecar is placed, the tires of said car should rest on a sufficient surfaceso that they do not sink or fold in a dangerous manner. In fact, whenthe tread of a tire folds too much there is a great risk that its cordbe damaged.

As a matter of fact in present installations the two fol lowing conceptsare to be found:

(a) Utilization of carrying elements of large dimensions to impartthereto a sulficient resistance, but this necessarily leads to largespaces between the elements, so that if a tire rests between twoelements thus disposed it is deformed and engages itself stronglybetween these two elements thus producing an inadmissible jamming.

(b) Utilization of elements of small dimensions which permits ofreducing the distance between two adjacent elements. In this case if atire rests solely on one element said element sinks into the tread anddeforms the tire to an exaggerated extent, which only rests on thiselement along one contact line.

The present invention relates to a new type of carrying elements formechanical garage installations tending to remove the above mentionedserious disadvantages.

The carrying elements 1 according to the invention are rigidly ormechanically fixed, parallel one to the other, by one of their endsalong side-members 2 forming part of the frame of a support for themechanical storage installation. Each of these side-members 2 providedwith its carrying elements thus presents the general shape of a comb,which can moreover be found in existing installations.

However, the originality of the present invention resides in thestructure or the conception of the various carrying elements 1. Indeed,these carrying elements 1 comprise a bearing surface 3 which, seen fromabove, has parts offset on either side of the longitudinal symmetryplane of the said element. This essential particularly permits ofproducing strong carrying elements, having a proper small thickness,which permits of disposing them at a short distance one from the other,but the carrying area of which is very large. This carrying area isdefined by a horizontal plane passing through the bearing surface 3 butlimited laterally by lines connecting the most distant points of thesymmetry axis of the element situated on either side of this axisrespectively.

One thus produces all the characteristics of a carrying elementnecessary for a faultless operation of a mechanical garage installation,i.e.:

(a) Large bearing area of each carrying element.

(b) Small distance separating two adjacent carrying elements.

These two characteristics, united for the first time, are in factabsolutely necessary to prevent any excessive deformation of the tiresof a car resting on such elements. Since the carrying area is large, thetire will not undergo any excessive deformation when it rests on asingle element.

Furthermore, the distance separating two carrying areas relative to twoadjacent elements is less than the pitch or the distance separatingthese two elements. This is possible due to the outline of each element.In this way the deformation of a tire resting on two adjacent elementsis also small. In practice, the deformation of the tire, in whatever waysaid tire rests on the carrying elements, is comparable to thedeformation which it undergoes when it is in contact with the flatground.

FIGS. 1 to 3 and 7 show very partially a mechanical garage installationwhich comprises supports 4, including side-members 2 provided withcarrying elements 1, movable horizontally along rails 5. Thisinstallation further comprises a lifting appliance the platforms ofwhich are constituted by second supports 6 provided with carryingelements 1, identical to those carried by the supports 4. These supports4 and these second supports 6 are arranged in such a way that when theyare alined vertically one relative to the other, the second supports 6pass during their vertical movement through the support 4. As a matterof fact, when the second support 6 passes through the support 4 thecarrying elements 1 and 1' are interposed and each passes into the spaceprovided between two elements carried by the other support.

In this embodiment, the carrying elements 1 and 1' are all constitutedby fiat bars bent zigzag and one of whose a lateral edges forms thebearing surface 3. The strength and rigidity of the elements may beincreased at will by increasing the width of the bar which in no waychanges the structure of the element seen from above, that is to sayperpendicularly to the bearing surface. Due to this original outline itis possible to produce supports, for example by means of flat bars of athickness of about 0.4 in., having a carrying area of a width of about 2to 4 in., whereas the adjacent elements are also separated by about 3 to6 in. This distance between adjacent elements could even be still morereduced, and in fact it is determined solely by the accuracy of thepositioning of the first supports relative to the second supports. Now,an accuracy of :06 in. is easily obtained which means that it isnecessary that the distance between two adjacent carrying elements mustbe, at a minimum, equal to 1.2 in. in addition to the thickness of theelement, which in the present case would thus be from 2 to 2.4 in.Moreover, it is obvious that the wave length of the zizag of theelements must be equal to or less than the width of a tire, that is tosay about 4 to 6 in. As a matter of fact, in this case, even if a tireshould rest only on one element, the carrying surface would be equal tothe width of the tire multiplied by the width of the carrying area ofthe carrying element, this due to the fact that the tread of a tire doesnot have the same possibility of deformation along a V-shaped line asalong a straight line.

The few dimensions given above by way of example clearly show that atire, which presents a surface of contact with a flat surface which is aminimum of 4 by 6 in., is in contact with a support provided withcarrying elements according to the invention over a surface at least aslarge as the said surface of contact, which could not be obtained up tothe present.

It is quite obvious that the carrying elements 1, 1 may have, seen fromabove, shapes differing from that of a broken line without departingfrom the scope' of protection claimed. In particular, the sinusoidal andtrapezoidal shapes shown in FIGS. 3 and 4 respectively are also possibleand permit of obtaining the same results as the embodiment describedwith reference to FIGS. 1 to 3 and 7.

The last modified form of the carrying elements according to theinvention, shown in FIG. 6, also has a bearing surface comprising partsoffset on either side of the longitudinal symmetry plane of the element.

In this modified form each carrying element is constituted by a centralcore 7 carrying cross-pieces 8 projecting from either side of this core7. Each carrying element thus has the general shape of a ladder.

By way of example the following dimensions may be given: Width of thecore 1.6 in.; width of the cross-pieces 4.8 in.; distance separting twoelements 6.4 in. Here again, it is easy to see that a tire resting onsuch a support has a carrying area at least equal to its surface ofcontact with a flat surface.

By way of example and to illustrate the way in which a tire rests on asupport provided with the carrying elements described, the surface ofcontact which a tire would have with a flat tread has been drawn in dotand dash lines in FIGS. 3, 4, 5 and 6. Following the position which atire may occupy relative to the carrying elements, the carrying surfacea is more or less large. However, this carrying surface a is always atleast equal to the width of the tire multiplied by the width of thecarrying area of a carrying element. This minimum carrying surface a isstill quite sufficient to ensure a small deformation of the tire.Moreover, due to the closeness of the adjacent carrying elements it isimpossible for the tire to jam between two of these carrying elements.

I claim:

A car storage installation comprising a first and second support havinginterfingering portions, means for vertically moving one of saidsupports to transfer a load from either support to the other support,said interfingering portions when seen in plan view having a generalshape of zigzag line.

References Cited by the Examiner UNITED STATES PATENTS 1,274,385 8/1918Colburn 198189 FOREIGN PATENTS 1,311,260 10/1962 France.

EVON C. BLUNK, Primary Examiner.

RICHARD E. AEGERTER, SAMUEL F. COLEMAN,

Examiners.

